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Bureau of Land Management Research Needs
TITLE:
Nest Success and Productivity of Native Grassland Prairies
SUBMITTING BUREAU: Bureau of Land Management
Originating Office: Montana State Office
DATE SUBMITTED: May 21, 1996
BIN NUMBER: BLM13CR98
BRD REGION: Central
DESCRIPTION OF NEED: The general decline of migratory bird populations has led to increased interest in their life histories and concern with their breeding habitats. Many of these passerine and shorebird species as well as waterfowl nest in the open prairies of the Northern Great Plains and the Prairie Pothole Region. Much of this habitat has been broken to grain crops and used extensively for agriculture. The use of these agricultural lands by migratory birds has been studied by the Northern Prairies Research Center in North Dakota. Research has also focused on the effects of scattered tracts of native prairie in amongst the agricultural lands on the nesting success of birds. However, the use of the vast tracks of native, unbroken prairie in eastern Montana for nesting by migratory birds has not received adequate attention.
The vast tracts of unbroken native prairie grasslands of eastern Montana support breeding populations of over 140 species of migratory birds. In many cases, this area of western United States and Canada support the majority of the nesting populations for these species. With the threat of increased conversion of native prairie to agricultural use, it is important to document the use of these grasslands by our migratory bird resource.
MANAGEMENT PROBLEM WITH NEED:
BUREAU CONTACT: Ramone McCoy, BLM Phillips Resource Area, HC 65, Box 5000, Malta, MT 59538, (406) 654-1240
BRD PRIMARY CENTER: NPWRC (MESC)
BRD CENTER CONTACT: Doug Johnson (Fritz Knopf)
RESULTS OF BRD-INITIATED COMMUNICATION (FY99): BRD had already initiated contacts on this recurring information need following the FY96 BIN process. MESC hosted a multi-agency/multi-center workshop in Fort Collins, Colorado, in December of 1996. The participants produced a white paper for submission to the Central Region Chief Biologist. That paper synthesized and formatted the needs of the partner bureaus and outlined a long-term research strategy to address those needs. The white paper has received extensive circulation both inside Interior and around the professional community.
A number of additional ongoing BRD projects were discussed in that workshop. These included long-term population studies, prairie fragmentation issues, and grassland bird response to the Conservation Reserve Program.
Ongoing Research:
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, with support from the Prairie Pothole Joint Venture, North American Waterfowl Management Plan, is preparing literature syntheses on the effects of management practices on grassland birds. Cooperators include a number of authorities from the United States and Canada. Accounts for more than 30 grassland species will be produced and made available in hard copy and on the World-Wide Web.
A Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center study of bird use of Conservation Reserve Program habitats in nine counties in four states in the northern Great Plains continued for its ninth year. Results from the study were instrumental in demonstrating wildlife benefits of the Program, which led to its renewal, and in designating most of the Prairie Pothole Region as a priority conservation area for the Program. Recent topics addressed with the study include the effects of haying on grassland birds and the role of patch size in the use by breeding birds. With partial support from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Center initiated a new study specifically addressing how CRP fields could be sited to enhance their values to breeding birds.
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center completed a study that explored relations between breeding bird communities, as assessed by a series of point counts similar to a mini Breeding Bird Survey route, and the condition of the landscape. The objective was to develop an Index of Biotic Integrity, analogous to those constructed for streams. Data were collected on 44 routes in both 1995 and 1996. This study, conducted cooperatively with the Environmental Protection Agency and BRD's Montana Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, is in the writing stage.
The Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center continues to conducts studies on the effects of prescribing burning on breeding bird populations at the Woodworth Field Station, North Dakota. The study, begin in 1972, is the only long-term evaluation of the responses of birds to burning in the mixed-grass prairie.
With several cooperators and funding support from the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center began its evaluation of the Bird Conservation Area concept in the northern tallgrass prairie. The hypothesis underlying BCA's is that large core areas of quality habitat (such as native prairie), surrounded by neutral habitats (such as small-grain fields), and isolated from hostile habitats (such as woody vegetation) will result in reproductive rates sufficient to at least maintain population levels of breeding birds. The Center is determining population density, productivity, and effects of predation and brood parasitism in grasslands of various size and landscape configurations. The study began in northwestern Minnesota in 1998, and will be expanded to include southeastern North Dakota in 1999.
Abby Powell, NPWRC Arkansas Field Station, is conducting baseline inventories of breeding grassland birds at national parks in the Great Plains. In 1998 she completed surveys at Pipestone National Monument, MN; Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, MO; Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, KS; and Homestead National Monument, NE. She will be conducting surveys at Scotts Bluff National Monument, NE; Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, NE; Badlands National Park, SD; and Theodore Roosevelt National Park, ND in 1999. In addition, Dr. Powell is developing a monitoring protocol for grassland birds at these parks. Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is a new addition to lands managed by the National Park Service. The preserve consists of 11,000 acres of tallgrass prairie that is currently burned and grazed annually. Dr. Powell is conducting baseline surveys of birds at this site throughout the year.
The Fort Collins Science Center reports that it is conducting the following studies: 1) The Influence of Habitat Structure and Fragmentation on Birds of the Central Shortgrass Prairie; 2) Declines of Shortgrass Prairie Birds: the Roles of Small Mammal Predation and Land Use Changes; 3) Relationships between Landscape Heterogeneity and Bird Abundance in a Grassland Open Space; and 4) Prairie Dogs as Keystone Species
DATE SUBMITTED TO REGIONAL OFFICE: 1/8/99
PREPARED BY: Douglas H. Johnson, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown, ND (701-253-5539); Email: Douglas_H_Johnson@usgs.gov
RESULTS OF BRD-INITIATED COMMUNICATION (FY98): BRD had already initiated contacts on this recurring information need following the FY96 BIN process. MESC hosted a multi-agency/multi-center workshop in Fort Collins, Colorado, in December of 1996. The participants produced a white paper for submission to the Central Region Chief Biologist. That paper synthesized and formatted the needs of the partner bureaus and outlined a long-term research strategy to address those needs. The white paper has received extensive circulation both inside Interior and around the professional community.
A number of additional ongoing BRD projects were discussed in that workshop. These included long-term population studies, prairie fragmentation issues, and grassland bird response to the Conservation Reserve Program.
DATE SUBMITTED TO REGIONAL OFFICE: October 31, 1997
PREPARED BY: Fritz L. Knopf, Office of Center Director, Fort Collins Science Center, Fort Collins, CO (970-226-9462); E-mail: fritz_knopf@usgs.gov
U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://biology.usgs.gov/cro/98blm-13.htm
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